Nasa ice satellite blasts off

A Nasa satellite that will measure changes in the ice sheets that blanket the Earth's poles was blasted into orbit yesterday following a delay of almost a month.

The US$282 million ($523 million) Boeing Delta II rocket ferrying the Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, and a smaller, secondary satellite lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The ICESat will measure the ice sheets blanketing Greenland and Antarctica so scientists can determine whether global sea levels are rising or falling, Nasa said.